CoQ10: Ubiquinol/ubiquinone?

Posting this article for the benefit of anyone recently diagnosed, who's still trying to find supplements that help. It discusses whether the much more expensive ubiquinol is really better than ubiquinone (spoiler alert: apparently it isn't).

The article isn't referenced, and my knowledge of biochemistry hovers around the zero mark, so I have no way of assessing its accuracy. But given that new patients are frequently bombarded with recommendations for supplements, I thought I'd post it to alert them to the fact that:

- It's at least worth asking questions before spending money;
- Some people find that simply using a different brand of the same supplement gives better results than buying vastly more expensive 'more bioavailable' forms.

I only looked it up because taking ubiquinol means I lose the benefits I get from CoQ10 (I've tried at least three brands over the years). I wondered if I was alone or whether there was evidence to support this. We're all different, but it does pay to try cheaper options too – I now choose to pay more for my fish oil, because low quantities of EPA and DHA means my severe eczema comes back and I also seem to have less energy. If things work, it's well worth paying for them; but as cheap CoQ10 works and top-price ubiquinol doesn't, it's one of the things I can do without!

Ubiquinol is the reduced form, and gets oxidised to ubiquinone in stomach acid anyway so they are the same. We make coq10 in the body from b5, and tyrosine so it is a non essential nutrient. Deficiency would be uncommon unless someone had a dietary b5 or tyrosine deficiency or an inborn error of cq10 metabolism.

As a general rule of thumb if something is commonly promoted (coq10, carnitine, ALA) it is non essential, and won't help many people. If something is claimed to be bad, and not promoted (PQQ, choline, soy lecithin, bakers yeast, other essential nutrient rich foods) it is good, and helpful.

I do AMAZING on coq10 800mg twice a day. I do 400 twice a day now ( mainly due to cost).

Brand matters ( I use nature’s bounty) I actually do better on coq10 than ubíquinol and when I posted, seems to be the case for Cfs (some do better in the active form) so try both and see what works for you. If you react tot he first one then no need to switch.